Hey SandyWeb,

Glad that i can help! My face was pretty swolen at first, and i dont think that i had feeling in my lips or cheeks at first now that you mention it. I remember my lips being pretty swolen for the first couple of days but they went down pretty quickly. And while i was in the hospital i had a stuffed nose, but it wasn't horrible, the only thing was it was hard to blow my nose at first. There was some pressure in the head i think, because i did have some bad headaches so they were probably attributed to that - not migrains or anything though. You did have to sleep on your back, but you did get use to it after a while. Also, its important to keep her head elevated esp at first because theres too much pressure to fully lie your head back. I don't remember having an especially hard time swallowing, but i didn't really eat alot as the medicines reduces your appetite quite a bit. As for coughing ... i dont remember it being really bad, but just being moreso difficult .. its just because you have some mucus and blood in your throat after the surgery, but it was pretty well gone within 24-48 hours. They also gave me wire cutters, but i feel as though that is just a pre-caution as i myself (and others i've known who have had similar surgery's) have never had any problems or had to use them.

As for school .. well i actually got mine done in the summer. But i remember i took the whole summer off work as i thought i would need a long recovery time, but for myself it actually didn't take that long. Obviously the first couple days were rough, but i was out again with my friends within a week and 1/2 probably. I'm sure she would be fine if she jsut took those first couple days off school, and then maybe a week after that, if even that much. It also just depends on how comfortable she is in public if she is still swolen. As she is going to have wires on for 6 weeks that also might make a difference, esp if she doesn't eat a lot because thats a long time to have them on.

Most of my swelling went down within ... probably about a month, but when i look back on pictures of myself near the end of the summer/beginning of the school year (i got my surgery in July) i could still see the swelling. But thats just me, and my mom says that she couldn't see it, so its not a noticable thing to most people.

I think thats about it ... hope it helps!
Jacq